Cautiously she cracked opened her eyes, unable to see anything beyond the white glow surrounding her. There was a vague outline of someone or something hovering above her, but she couldn’t make out the features. Whoever it was might be using their powerful magic to repair her broken body, but that didn’t mean they had sucked her into the hole out of kindness.
They might have even worse plans for her.
As if to reinforce her fears, the white glow was suddenly threaded with a familiar green slime, and the stench of rotting flesh wafted past her nose. Was the magic being infected before her eyes? Was the corruption in this hole?
Trapped by her sheer terror, Wynn was unable to move as the green threads pulsed their way toward her. Then a voice calling her name jolted her out of her stupor, and with a grim determination, Wynn forced herself to scramble to her feet.
She groaned as her muscles protested. She might be healed, but her body had taken a beating and it wasn’t ready to be pushed. Too bad. She had already convinced herself that having the sickly green magic touch her would be a fate worse than death.
Stumbling backward, she felt a pile of loose dirt behind her. She assumed it was the ground that had collapsed when the hole had appeared at the top of the hill. Was it high enough for her to escape?
Without giving herself the opportunity to consider the wisdom of fleeing the healing magic to return to the coven of angry witches who’d already tried to kill her, Wynn spun around to desperately claw her way up the mound of dirt and rocks.
Ignoring the skin being scraped from her palms and the mud coating her from head to toe, Wynn hauled herself upward, her back stiff as she braced herself for a burst of killing magic. Her heavy panting was the only sound to break the thick silence, along with the occasional rock that tumbled down to crash against the stone floor beneath her.
Fiercely concentrating on pulling herself up inch by inch, Wynn didn’t dare look down. Why would she want to know if she was about to be destroyed? It wasn’t until she was finally forced to halt and catch her breath that she reluctantly glanced over her shoulder.
Fully expecting to discover the magic directly behind her, Wynn released a shaky sigh of relief as she watched the white glow battling against a wave of shimmering magic that had surged into the pit from a crack in the wall. Was that Gabriela’s magic? Wynn had no idea, but the two powers churned and pulsed together, as if they were locked in an epic war of supremacy.
It was the distraction she needed to escape, but it was only temporary. She had to get out of there and disappear before the mysterious magic tried to suck her back down. Returning her attention to the top of the hole, Wynn judged the distance. It looked to be a couple of feet above her head. Not an impossible leap, but it was going to take everything she had to make it.
Luckily, the adrenaline surging through her body added an extra boost of power as she bent her knees and jumped upward. The tips of her fingers managed to grip the edge of the hole, and ignoring the screaming protest of the muscles in her upper arms, she dragged herself up and over the ledge.
She lay panting on the ground, straining to hear any sound of the witches. When there was nothing but silence, she wearily lifted her head to discover she was alone. Had the cave-in scared them away? Or had they finally sensed the magic bubbling beneath their feet?
Not that it mattered. They would eventually come back to search for her. Always assuming the glowing white power didn’t manage to get her first. She had to get away from there.
Far, far away.
Managing to climb to her feet, Wynn was attempting to decide which way to run when she felt the ground trembling beneath her. Her heartstopped at the low rumbles that echoed through the air, watching the large cracks split open. It felt like the entire hill was about to collapse. Or explode.
Fear gave her an extra burst of power as she stumbled and rolled her way down the hill. Once at the bottom, she limped in the opposite direction, heading away from the coven as well as the distant village. She had no idea where she was going, but every step took her further away from her enemies. She continued through the empty fields, at last reaching the soggy banks of the river.
Too exhausted to take another step, Wynn collapsed into the sticky mud, needing to rest before she could search for a raft or boat to take her away from the godforsaken place. She closed her eyes and darkness claimed her.
“You remember?”
The words were whispered directly into Wynn’s ear, and with a violent jerk that left her disoriented, she lurched from the countryside back to the dungeon. Her head was spinning as she tried to adjust to the sudden shift, but as her mind cleared she realized the demon was standing just inches away, bathing her in the vile green glow from his eyes.
That evil magic had to have come from the pit, right? So had this demon been dropped into the same place? Or had he been infected by someone else? And did it have anything to do with the dragon statue? Had it been down there too?
She shook away the gnawing questions. This demon admitted he’d been following her for months. It wasn’t for any good reason. Once she’d escaped she would worry about the who, what, where, and why.
“I remember the coven,” she cautiously admitted, not sure why the demon had returned her memories. Was he searching for information she’d forgotten? If that was the case, then she didn’t intend to give him anything that might help. “Those bitches were trying to burn me alive.”
“Humans are very dramatic when they’re scared. Idiotic creatures.”
“I remember them.” She shrugged. “But I don’t remember you.”
There were no visible cues of the creature’s annoyance, but Wynn could sense it in the stiffness of the gaunt body.
“Of course you remember. I was the one to save you.”
Save her? The green slime hadn’t done anything to help, had it? Maybe it distracted the white glowing thing long enough for her to escape, but that wasn’t anything to cheer about. She was quite certain it had intended to infect her with evil.
“Nope.” Another shrug. “No one saved me. I climbed out of the hole and then a few hours later I woke up on the banks of the river near London. There were no demons or saviors around. Just me doing what I had to do.”
There was a hissing sound, as if the demon was offended by her refusal to show appreciation for being rescued from the coven.
